Purchase Could Save Money

If The Town Buys The 5,114 Street Lights Inside Its Borders, It Could Save Thousands Of Dollars Each Year.

April 16, 2003|By JESSE HAMILTON; Courant Staff Writer

EAST HARTFORD — In a complex fit of government financing, town leaders intend to save about $200,000 a year, but that first requires East Hartford to buy its own street lights from Connecticut Light & Power for about $407,000.

The utility owns the fixtures, and it's had a deal with the town to maintain them and provide the electricity to keep all 5,114 shining across town. Maintenance and electricity cost about $660,000 a year, Finance Director Michael Walsh told the town council Tuesday night.

The town council voted to drop that arrangement and get another company, CCM Services/Sylvania Lighting Services Corp., to maintain the lights. They will do it for $122,125 a year. Adding that to about $330,000 the town will still have to pay CL&P for electricity, the total is more than $200,000 less than the old deal.

But there's a complication. East Hartford has to own the fixtures if the town wants another company to maintain them. So, it will pay the $407,000 to buy them, financing it over four years, with the first payments coming in the 2004-2005 budget.

The savings from this arrangement, Walsh pointed out, could pay for the lights within two years if the town chose to do so. But even with four years of financing, it still saves significant cash during an economic crisis.

And, as Councilman Lee Griffin said, ``We're still going to light the streets. There's not going to be a noticeable change.''

Of the level of service -- lights that burn out or are too bright, for instance -- Public Works Director Billy Taylor said, ``I think it's going to be better.''

So why didn't this deal come earlier? Councilman George Franek explained that it's been studied for about three years.

Also at Tuesday night's council meeting, town officials delivered a quarterly quality-of-life report. It detailed some of the efforts for cleaning up nuisance properties.

The report included information on dozens of problem properties cited in the first three months of 2003 and which of them hasn't yet complied with town orders.

Police Officer Gerard ``Skip'' Scagliola also told the council that 151 abandoned cars had been found. Many owners solved the problems themselves, but 47 had to be towed from streets and 32 from private property.